


Under the Sea

by imaginary_iby



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Crack, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-28
Updated: 2013-04-28
Packaged: 2017-12-09 20:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/777924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_iby/pseuds/imaginary_iby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Danny are seahorses.  In which Steve conducts underwater lessons, there are crimes that need solving, and Danny is still in charge of keeping everybody in line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> April, 24: Don't blame me. Blame other people, people by the name of Mel and Kendall. Blame twitter, blame Finding Nemo. Just don't blame me. /o\ I also bend about seventy natural laws of being a seahorse, here. Sorry about that.
> 
> Edit, May 7: it was utterly remiss of me not to properly acknowledge that this fic is entirely the brainchild of the lovely [Eumelia.](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Eumelia/pseuds/Eumelia) Her tweets regarding Steve and Danny as seahorses consumed my soul, it was simply too delightful an idea to ignore. Many thanks, Mel!

Steve was resolutely holding what Danny could only classify as parade rest, tail curved at a precise angle, head held _just_ right, back sloped to perfection. Everything about him defied the natural seahorse way of life – the current dared not move him, but rather seemed to whisper past. It was as though it knew not to fuck with him, especially on today of all days

Ally, Timothy, Greg, Eliza, Miranda, Kame, Steph… wait, no, _that_ was Beth, Steph was over there.... Well, any number of their seven hundred strong brood frolicked past, bouncing on things that should not be bounced on, poking things that should not be poked. The usual, for Williams-McGarrett offspring, really.

What was most certainly _not_ the norm, was the way that Steve outright refused to play with any of them. On most days, he was to be found exploring the ocean floor with at _least_ a few dozen little nippers trailing behind, tails clasped tight and forming one long train.

-

"Gather round, guys! I’ve found something incredible!”

Bringing up the rear, Danny couldn’t help but tut – Steve thought _everything_ in the ocean was incredible. Nevertheless, the kids all swooped forward, crowding around their father with gasps of delight.

“A sea slug!” Steve announced, with a jaunty poke of his tail. “Can anybody name this species - in the Latin, please?”

Albert, Molly, Leilani and Paul clambered over each other in their haste to answer, and once again it fell to Danny to restore order amongst the brood. 

“Settle down, guys, settle down. Molly, you go first darling.” – Molly was definitely one of the quietest of the lot, and Danny was trying to encourage her first blooms of confidence.

“ _Chelidonura varians_ ,” she offered, before losing her nerve and swooshing back to the safety of Danny’s body. She burst into a grin, however, when Steve swept forward to brush the tip of his tail over her cheek.

“Well done, Molly. Excellent work.”

He then turned to the rest of the group, surveying them closely. “Class and phylum?”

Jeremy – and oh boy, was Jeremy the embodiment of both his fathers – answered quickly. “Class, _Gastropoda_ , Phylum, _Mollusca,_ ” he responded with the utmost confidence, as though the natural world wouldn’t dare to let him be wrong, but would, in fact, shape itself around his answer.

“Well done, Jeremy!” Steve declared, and the two proceeded to engage in a complex tail-shake routine that only they had ever bothered to learn.

Once they were done, Steve swept over to rest at Danny’s side, bumping their mouths together affectionately. 

“Not in front of the children, Steven,” Danny scolded, even as Steve asked, “and what of this perplexing creature?”

All six dozen of their brood, (the lot that wasn’t back with Uncle Chin and Aunty Kono, at any rate), somersaulted with glee. It was time to tease Danny, and that was _the_ favorite pursuit in the Williams-McGarrett house. 

Danny sighed, all bark and no bite, trying not to smile at their delight. 

“A gorilla!” someone from the back called. “An Amazonian macaw!” came from the right. “I know, I know! He’s a tapir!”

Danny had never seen such creatures – he was very fond of his particular patch of ocean, and that was where he wished to remain, thank you very much. But Steve had lived a life spent wandering the waters of the world, taking in the sights – and their children had soaked up his stories like a sponge.

“No, no, an elephant!”

From somewhere near the front, Jeremy groaned. Sometimes he got so caught up in the facts, he couldn’t quite figure out how to have fun. “Guys, those things don’t even live in the ocean!”

“A walrus?” Albert offered, hiding his snout behind his sisters so as to shield his smart-alec grin.

It took a bit of effort, but Jeremy curled his tail up in such a way as to smack it against his head a few times, before proceeding to wave it around impatiently.

“ _Allllllright,_ Jeremy,” Steve soothed, as though sensing that a rant was dangerously imminent. “Let’s stick to sea-creatures, eh guys?”

Dozens of eyes fell to rest on Danny, taking in his size and shape. A murmur of giggles swept across the brood, before Leilani jetted forward to wrap her tiny tail around his larger one.

“He’s our daddy.”

-

“Steven,” Danny hissed, as the children began to swoosh aboard the public manta-ray and head off to their first day of school. They were gloomy, obviously hurt by the cold shoulder that Steve was giving them. 

“Steven! They don’t understand that you’re upset, they think you’re angry with them. Get your head out of your ass and say goodbye! Right now!”

As though jolted out of his stupor, Steve jettisoned himself up over the top of the ray, scanning the massive wings for his children. “Guys!” he called out, mildly desperate. “Guys, please stay safe! Listen to everything Mister Fin tells you, okay? I don’t want any reports of insubordination.”

Danny curled his tail over his eyes, trying to ignore the other parents when they whispered about what the hell kind of household the Williams-McGarretts were running. They didn’t know that Steve used military terms with ease and affection.

“I love you!” Steve called, even as the ray began to swoop away. “I love you!”

Danny uncurled his tail just in time to see Jeremy groan and look up at the ceiling of the ocean, obviously trying to rise above the situation. “Oh man. That is so embarrassing.”

The ray swept around a corner of coral, and then suddenly Steve was swooshing forward, a few puffs of heartbroken movement as he began to follow, on instinct alone.

“Woah, woah,” Danny soothed, jetting after him with a burst of speed. “Easy partner.” He curled his tail around Steve’s – short where Steve’s was long, powerfully stocky where Steve’s was gently muscled and limber. “Easy. It’ll be okay. They’re good kids, they’ll watch out for each other. Plus, Gracie goes back to school today too, and she's only a few coral over. She promised she’d check in on them during her lunch break, remember?”

Steve nodded, flexing his tail as though to encourage Danny to grip it tighter, but not quite knowing how to ask. Danny did so, drawing Steve in close to his side.

Danny was just about to suggest that they head off – Mister Fin was well and truly out of sight, when suddenly a regal tang, (Class, _Actinopterygii_ , Phylum, _Chordata_ , oh man, Danny was screwed) came hurtling up to them.

“Help, help! Mister Williams! Mister McGarrett! Someone broke into Herbert’s anemone whilst he was out getting breakfast! There’s blood and scales everywhere!”

A steely look settled on Steve’s face, and Danny unwound their tails, patting himself down and getting ready for the day ahead.

They had a job to do.


End file.
